Hong Kong traders with export interests in Turkey may like to know that Turkey initiated a dumping investigation into tableware and kitchenware of ceramic and porcelain originating in mainland China and currently falling under Tariff Statistical Positions 6911.10.00.00.11, 6911.10.00.00.12, 6911.10.00.00.19, 6912.00.21.00.00, 6912.00.23.00.00, 6912.00.25.00.11, 6912.00.25.00.12, 6912.00.25.00.19 and 6912.00.29.00.00. The investigation was initiated by Decree No. 2016/38 on the Prevention of Unfair Competition from Imports, published in the Turkish Official Journal, No. 29837, dated 24 September 2016.

The complaint, regarding the alleged dumping, had been filed by Kütahya Porselen and Heriş Seramik. Mainland China is said to be the largest exporter of the product concerned to Turkey, representing about 88% of Turkey’s total tableware and kitchenware imports. The products concerned are currently subject to customs duty rates ranging from 5% to 12%, as illustrated in detail in the table below:

Within the framework of the anti-dumping investigation, importers, producers and exporters of the products under investigation will be notified of the initiation of the investigation. Notified parties are required to submit their responses to the anti-dumping questionnaire, in Turkish, within 37 days from the date on which the notification was sent, including the time spent for delivery. For other interested parties, who do not or have not received a notification, the 37-day deadline starts as from the publication date of the announcements in the Turkish Official Journal, including the time spent for delivery.

Interested parties failing to submit their responses within the deadline will be considered as not cooperating, and the relevant determinations, within the framework of the investigation, will be made based on the facts available, which may lead to unfavourable or less favourable consequences compared to cooperating parties.

Hong Kong traders may also like to know that the notice of initiation does not mention whether mainland China will be regarded as a non-market economy country in the current investigation. This conclusion is further strengthened by the fact that the notice of initiation does not invite interested parties to submit evidence proving that market economy conditions apply in mainland China. On the other hand, verbal information obtained from the investigating authority states that Turkey has not taken a position yet concerning whether mainland China should be granted market economy status by the end of 2016 as claimed by mainland China under its WTO Accession Protocol. However, the questionnaire, which has been made available on the internet page of the investigating authority, is that which is issued for producers and exporters established in non-market economy countries.

Therefore, it appears that Turkey will treat mainland China as a non-market economy for the purpose of this investigation, which means that unless the exporters can substantiate that market economy conditions prevail for them in mainland China, normal value calculations will be based on a constructed value, the calculation of which will be based on information relating to an analogue country.

The initiation of the current dumping investigation actually stems from the Turkish domestic industry’s previous efforts to seek protection from Turkey’s Ministry of Economy from imports of the product concerned. As Hong Kong traders may recall, Turkey had initiated a safeguard investigation concerning the importation of the same product by Decree No. 2015/3 on Safeguard Measures on Importation, published in Turkish Official Gazette No. 29337 on 25 April 2015.

Within the framework of that safeguard investigation, the Turkish domestic industry had claimed that a safeguard measure at the rate of 2.5 USD/kg would suffice to provide domestic producers with a shield from the effects of allegedly dumped imports. The investigation had attracted much attention in the international arena and Turkey was blamed for abusing trade defence mechanisms, since a safeguard investigation was initiated targeting all countries instead of a dumping investigation that would target only mainland China which represented almost 90% of total imports into Turkey by the time the safeguard investigation was initiated.

No safeguard measure was imposed as a result of the investigation, since the investigating authority failed to complete the investigation within the nine-month period set by the Turkish legislation, i.e., by 25 January 2015. The initiation of the current dumping investigation concerning the same product was therefore interpreted by the press as an illustration of the domestic industry’s determined efforts to seek protection from the imports concerned, hailing from mainland China.